Andrew Kwak

Edermae Paminutan
Moriah Pleasant
Fernando Ferreria Meirelles
Born: November 9, 1955

Meirelless first experience with cinema was with his father, who
directed 8 mm films during his time at the university. He produced
mostly western and thriller parodies, using his relatives and friends as
actors. At age 13, Meirelles started producing small films, inspired by
Norman McLaren's animations.
He studied architecture at the University of So Paulo. His graduation
work was done in the form of a film, instead of the traditional designs
of the other students: he went to Japan and bought professional video
equipment to do the job. He presented it and graduated with the
minimum acceptable grade. At the same time he developed his
interest in filmmaking.
Along with four friends, Meirelles began his career with experimental
films. Eventually, they formed an independent production company.
Subsequently, new friends joined the group as well as the children
series Castelo R-Tim-Bum with 180 episodes. In addition to obtaining
high ratings, they also introduced a refreshing humorous informality in
news reporting.
In 1997 he read City of God written by Paulo Lins, and decided to turn
it into a movie despite it having around 350 characters to act. Once the
screenplay, written by Brulio Mantovani, was ready, Meirelles
gathered a crew mixed with professional technicians and inexperienced
actors chosen between the young men living in the favelas surrounding
Rio de Janeiro.
The film was a huge success in Brazil and began to attract attention
around the world after it screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.
City of God has won awards from film festivals and societies all over

the world, as well as four 2004 Oscar nominations, including a Best

Director for Fernando Meirelles.
Fernando had received his inspiration to produce city of god, because
of how shocking the story was to him and the other Brazilians. He had
never realized how much he didnt know about the favelas and realized
how other people wouldnt have Paulos views on it. He created his film
to show the world how Paulos view would be.
Fernando eventually met up with Weisz, in order to create the film 360,
which follows the stories of couples and their sexual encounters.
Fernando had directed this because of Peter Morgans involvement in
developing it. However, as he started directing, he started to like the
idea of how everything starts and ends in a circle, a 360, leading him
to finish the movie while it was falling apart.
Fernando is also known for his distinct style of filming. On an interview
with Chris Neumer, he points out how instead of changing camera
angles and lighting during each shot, he would not change the
equipment and would try to film it as a documentary would be filmed.
He would have his actors constantly repeat scenes while changing the
camera angle during each repetition, and instead of cutting would
have them improvise where a cut would normally take place.